Why designer Marek Reichman says it will 'never be repeated'.

F1 for the road: Inside Aston Martin's Valkyrie

While previous attempts to create the world's fastest car have resulted in surprisingly accommodating and useable machines in the McLaren F1 and Bugatti Veyron, Aston Martin's Valkyrie offers precious little comfort to the world's wealthiest drivers.

There are no mirrors. There is no rear window. There isn't even a seat.

Instead, the Valkyrie's cabin offers racecar details everywhere you look. Rear-view cameras feed three monitors dotted around the cabin, the removable steering wheel is the sole interface with the car and the driver sits on foam elements glued to the car's chassis.

Aston Martin design chief Marek Reichman gave us a preview of what owners can expect from the Valkyrie at the Goodwood Festival of Speed:

"It has a completely reclined driving position - you're sitting with your heels higher than your butt," he says.

"You sit on the tub more reclined than this [Aston's Vanquish sports car], at about 54 degrees. There is an option to go a little more upright, about 40 degrees, but that's for smaller drivers who need to sit a little bit higher in the car.

Aston Martin Valkyrie. Photo: Supplied

"You get fitted into the tub - pressed into a bag that becomes your seat that gets fitted into the tub. The wheel adjusts and the pedals adjust to accommodate the driver."

That's the same sort of process used by F1 and Le Mans drivers who sit in special seats lined with foam to match their body shape. Aston says the car will fit 98 per cent of adults, including tall and bulky blokes.

Reichman says a number of professional drivers have ordered the car, but that the brand cannot reveal personal details surrounding its 150 customers. It's possible that past and present Red Bull Racing drivers such as Daniel Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel or Mark Webber might take one home to celebrate victories with the team.

Prospective buyers will need F1-pilot levels of wealth as the Valkyrie is rumoured to cost around £2.5 million ($4.2m).

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For that, they get a 1000 kilogram car powered by naturally aspirated V12 engine that makes around 1000 horsepower (745kW), aided by battery assistance used at low speed and for torque vectoring when cornering.

Aston Martin's attention to detail includes a new aluminium nose badge thinner than human hair.

Reichman styled the striking car's upper bodywork, working closely with motorsport legend Adrian Newey. The British engineering genius shaped Indy 500–winning machines before turning to F1, where his work secured world titles for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull.

"I'm working with arguably the world's greatest F1 designer, Adrian Newey. It's a collaboration between the two companies, the two brains," Reichman says.

"This is a 'once-in-a-lifetime' for any designer, to be involved in something that will change the face of hypercars. It's going to be a long time before it is surpassed – it may never be repeated."

Reichman says the pair split design duties, with Newey focusing on engineering and the Aston man taking charge of style.

"When Adrian and I met, my sketches of what I believed the car was going to be like, versus his, were so very similar, but his had an engineering bias and mine were driven by the aesthetics of beauty," Reichman says.

"The best way to describe it is that the underside is Adrian forcing and controlling the air, everything that you see that's in carbon I have an input with Adrian, but he is the lead on that.

"It's the opposite on the upper side, it's my lead with Adrian's input. The underside is about forcing the air, the upper side is about letting the air naturally do what it needs to do, creating forms and shapes that don't interfere with airflow, that don't create areas of turbulence.

"It's about creating a pebble, it's about creating something with beautiful highlights that feel as though they've been formed by the air flowing around the surfaces. It's about keeping it clean, pure and simple."